Oklahoma City, Okla. -- The Mid-America Christian Evangels cut a 24-point second half deficit down to nine with less than three minutes left, but couldn't get over the hump and fell 83-73 to the Oklahoma City Stars in the Sooner Athletic Conference opener for both teams Tuesday night (Nov. 22) at the Gaulke Activity Center. 

The Stars controlled the first half and extended a 14-point halftime advantage to 65-41 on a three-point play by Elhadji Wade with 8:45 remaining. 

It was 74-57 when Brandon Williams hit two free throws to start a 8-0 run as a putback by Cameron Langster cut the OCU lead to single-digits with 2:53 remaining. 

But that's as close as the Evangels could come as the Stars (4-1) nailed seven of their eight attempts from the charity stripe down the stretch to close out the win. 

Williams paced the Evangels with 18 points and Charlie Shorter had 17.  Darius Gregory and George Haynes each added 10 points, with Gregory pulling down a team-high nine rebounds. 

Tim Morton had a team-high 18 points for the Stars and Troynell Adams scored 16.  C.J. Busby had 12, while Orlan Jackman had 11 and a game-high 15 boards. 

A huge key to the Stars win was their dominance on the boards, out-rebounding the Evangels (3-1) 53-35 overall. 

MACU fought back on the strength of a full-court press in the second half that helped create 30 turnovers on the night. 

The Evangels won't play for the next seven days to observe the Thanksgiving holliday and will come back and host Oklahoma Wesleyan in a rematch from last week on Tuesday night (Nov. 29) at 5:30 p.m.

MACU bested Oklahoma Wesleyan 81-76 last Tuesday (Nov. 15) in Bartlesville, Okla.